Blog

Notes from the production floor

What we have learned making kit for five sports, written for the people who have to specify it, pay for it and explain it to a committee.

ColourBuyingPlanningFabricWorking with usArtworkProcessDecisionsDurability

Latest · Decisions

Sublimation or stitching when the budget is fixed

The two routes cost differently at different quantities. Here is where each one wins.

Sep 6, 2026 · 4 min read

Durability Sep 6, 2026 What actually fails on team kit, and when Fabric almost never wears out first. Six things do, in a fairly predictable order. Process Sep 5, 2026 What actually happens in the three weeks after you approve It is not a queue. Here is what the factory is doing, and why the timeline is what it is. Artwork Sep 4, 2026 Putting a sponsor logo on a jersey without upsetting the sponsor The logo they send is built for a letterhead. Here is what happens to it on fabric, and what to agree before printing. Fabric Sep 3, 2026 Reading a fabric spec without a textiles degree Three numbers and two words tell you almost everything about how a garment will feel. The rest is marketing. Working with us Sep 3, 2026 What changes when one factory makes all five sports Not a discount. A shorter list of people to chase, and a colour that means the same thing in every sport. Planning Sep 2, 2026 The real cost of ordering kit twice Splitting an order across two dates feels prudent. Here is what it actually costs in money, time and matching. Planning Sep 2, 2026 How many practice jerseys does a squad actually need? Almost every program orders one per player and runs short by week two. The arithmetic is simple once you write it down. Colour Sep 1, 2026 Why your kit looks different in photographs A team approves a navy on a screen and sees a different navy on the field. Here is what happens in between, and what to do about it. Buying Sep 1, 2026 Eleven questions worth asking a uniform supplier Most quotes look alike. These are the questions that make the differences between them visible before you sign.

Why these are written at all

Every post here started as a question somebody asked on the phone. Not a marketing topic chosen because it might rank — an actual question from a coach or an athletic director, asked often enough that writing it down once was cheaper than answering it thirty times.

That is why the posts argue rather than describe. A piece on whether to sublimate or stitch that lists the properties of both methods and then declines to say which one to buy has wasted your time; the question was never what the methods are, it was which one to spend a fixed budget on.

It is also why several of them tell you not to do something we would be paid for. The advice that a program should spend its budget on more garments rather than a more expensive decoration method costs us money and is correct, and a supplier who will not say that is not worth much as a source.

The difference between these and the guides

Two kinds of writing on this site, and they are for different moments.

The guides are reference

Sizing, fabric, artwork, timelines, care, reordering. You go to them with a specific question and leave with the answer, and they are written to be re-read rather than read once.

The posts are argument

They take a decision a program has to make and come down on one side of it. You read one before deciding, not while doing.

Neither repeats the other

A post on what fails and when does not restate the care guide; it explains why the care guide matters more than a fabric upgrade. The overlap is deliberate and thin.

Both come from the same place

Orders that went well and orders that did not. There is no third source, and where we have not seen enough of something to be confident, we say so rather than filling the gap.

About what we publish

How often do you publish?

When there is something worth writing rather than on a schedule. A post here exists because a question came up often enough to be worth answering once properly, which is not a thing that happens every Tuesday.

Who writes them?

People who work on the orders. That is why the posts can tell you what actually fails at week three rather than what a durability page would prefer to claim.

What is the difference between the blog and the guides?

The guides are reference — sizing, fabric, artwork, timelines — written to be re-read when you have a specific question. The posts take a decision and come down on one side of it, and you read one before deciding.

Do the posts apply to all five sports?

Most do, because colour, artwork, timelines and washing behave the same everywhere. Where a sport genuinely differs, the sport pages carry it rather than the blog.

Can I ask you to write about something?

Yes, and it is where several of these came from. If a question is worth your time asking, it is probably worth answering once in public.

Are these written to rank on Google?

They are written to answer questions, and we would rather rank for having done that than rank for having guessed at a keyword. A post that ranks and does not help you is a failure with good analytics.

Do you cite prices in the posts?

No, because price depends on garment, method and quantity, and a number in a post is out of date the moment anything changes. The posts explain what drives cost; a quote gives you the number.

Can I share or quote these?

Please do. Several of them exist to be forwarded to whoever in the program is actually making the decision, which is frequently not the person who asked us.

Do you write about specific sports?

Only where the manufacturing genuinely differs. Buying advice for a single sport belongs on that sport’s own site, where the range and the sizing sit next to it.

Where do I start if I am new to ordering kit?

The post on questions worth asking a supplier, then the one on the cost of ordering twice. Between them they cover most of what a first-time buyer gets wrong, and neither takes long.